Financial Support

The Michigan Coalition for Clean Forests (MCCF)
is operated primarily on volunteerism and private and corporate donations.

Contact the landfill or transfer station where you plan to take the
material. Refer to section on Trash Disposal. Make sure they will be open when you plan to
be there. Ask for free disposal or at least a price break for this one-time cleanup. If
the disposal site is privately owned, they may want publicity which you will able to
provide.

If you are unable to get tipping fees deferred, don't panic. A couple
of local (preferably large) merchants will probably be willing to underwrite tipping fees
for favorable publicity. Ask your most persuasive group leader to help contact possible
supporters.

If the items are too large to combine with your household trash and you
are unable to get the disposal costs deferred, contact the Adopt-a-Forest project manager
for your area (see Contacts to Make). A special
tax-deductible fund has been set up for individuals and corporations to donate money for
this purpose. In addition, the DNR has allocated a limited amount of funds specifically
for state land cleanups. All expenditures must be PREAPPROVED and will not be paid unless
they are accompanied by an original voucher signed by an Adopt-a-Forest project manager
prior to the cleanup.

This fund will only pay for landfill tipping fees and dumpster costs.
Since funds are limited considering the scope of the problem, every effort should be made
to get the lowest price possible for projects. This fund will only make payments directly
to businesses that present an invoice with a voucher attached, not to individuals as
reimbursement. The fund cannot pay for items such as workgloves, shovels, travel expenses,
meals, and so on.

Spending priorities are made depending on issues such as impact of
cleanup compared to cost, length of time requesting group has been active in the program,
and the location of the cleanup.

Many trash sites have metals that can be turned over to a reclaimer
such as appliances and car parts. Many reclaimers will give your group a finders fee
based on weight and type of metal. If large amounts of metals are present at the
cleanup site, scrap metal companies may be willing to place a metals only dumpster free at
the site. Worse case scenario, you should be able to recycle metals for free so they
are not taking up valuable dumpster space. See Scrap Metals in your phone
guide for local contacts. Bottle and can deposits are another way to reimburse a
small amount of your costs.

Scrap tire and freon removal grants have also been received in
the past. Collection points will be set up around the state based on need. If these
collection points are in your area, you will receive notification if you are on our
mailing list.

The Adopt-a-Forest program is a success in large part due to a majority
of cleanup costs being absorbed by volunteer organizations and local businesses. We would
like to give these groups and companies as much publicity as possible. Therefore, we ask
that you list their names and donations (e.g., money, machinery, time) on your progress
report. Many groups and businesses have received awards to acknowledge their
contributions.